I have the same receiver and M60's, EP350, VP150 and Qs8's and don't have this problem. I admit, I was a little confused at first when I first turned on the Denon for the first time and was not hearing anything. I would say for CD's I usually listen in pure direct mode anywhere from -35db to -15db depending on the cd. I rarely go into the +db range, unless the wife is gone. For movies, it also varies, I would say I'm usually in the -30db to -20db range.
Did you place the mic in the primary listening position, preferably on a camera tripod? You can hit the main Round button on the remote and it will cycle through each speaker and show you what level the autosetup used. I think for movies my mains/center are on like +5dB, the sub is like -2dB and the surrounds like +6dB for my current room... I also have the mains set to Small and use a 80hz crossover for the sub. I have the sub volume at about 12'o clock, and the sub crossover cranked all the way clockwise so I'm using the receiver crossover settings.
I would try rerunning the auto setup again, and then check to make sure the mains are set to small.
Something doesn't sound correct. My Denon/Axiom combination just brings tears to my eyes, it sounds so good.
